Egypt's armed forces produce film about Tantawi

Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:35 AM

A still image from the movie produced by the armed forces 'a form of loyalty' about Field Marshal Tantawi.

The Egyptian army produced a documentary film on Wednesday entitled "Tantawi... a journey of loyalty to Egypt" about Field Marshal Hussien Tantawi. The film was posted on YouTube a few days prior to the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution.

Official military spokesman, Ahmed Mohamed Ali, has said that the film was displayed in an educational seminar at al-Galaa theatre on the sidelines of celebrating the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled the former president.

The film discusses the biography of Tantawi who headed the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which ruled Egypt in the transitional period; from Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February 2011 until the election of current President Mohamed Mursi in June 2012.

The film starts with Tantawi's birth in 1935 and goes through his leadership of a battalion in the October 6 War of 1973 (Yom Kippur). The movie also points out his service as military attache in Pakistan until his appointment as a minister of defence and commander in chief of the armed forces in 1991.

The 12-minute long film highlights the "bias of the armed forces towards the angry crowds" during the 2011 anti-regime uprising where "the people and the army are one" was a popular chant.

Some activists have described the isolation of Tantawi from the cabinet following the appointment of a new president as a "safe exit" since many had called for his trial for crimes committed by the armed forces during their rule.

The military rule lasted for a year and four months, during which dozens of protesters were killed. Rights groups accuse Tantawi of being directly involved in the murder of protesters in many of the clashes that occurred in this short time.

Many activists had condemned the "safe exit" of the military council, including Ahmed Doma, who once told Reuters that the "revolution rejects the safe exit entirely," adding that revolutionary forces will not rest until they bring to justice those responsible for the deaths.

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